Group creates color-coded index for privacy threats

SAN FRANCISCO'The Electronic Privacy Information Center last week unveiled a Privacy Threat Index to track what it sees as the expanding menace of government surveillance.

The EPIC index, announced at the RSA 2003 Security Conference, copies the Homeland Security Department's color-coded threat levels. The Washington privacy center, whose Web site is at www.epic.org, placed the current level at yellow.

'We will use the Privacy Threat Index to assess developments in the United States and to compare activities in countries around the world,' EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg said.He called attention to privacy concerns about the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the follow-on Patriot II legislation being developed by the Justice Department.

EPIC noted five other invasive factors:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lets the government conduct surveillance without safeguards required by the Fourth Amendment.

Accuracy requirements for National Crime Information Center data have loosened.

Funding has risen for surveillance systems, including immigration control and video tools.